My Top 5 On-Screen Vampires

After a gruelling last week I wanted to do something fun and light-hearted for my blog today. I have decided to post my 5 favourite on-screen vampires. There are so many to choose from and everyone will no doubt have their favourites, but here are mine.

5. Bill Paxton as Severen

At #5 I begin with movie legend,

4. Klaus Kinski as Nosferatu

At #4 is another movie legend and star of many spaghetti westerns, I remember saying to my father when I was a kid, after seeing Max Schreck as Nosferatu, that Klaus Kinski would be perfect in the part. Little did I know that in 1979, a few years before, he had actually played the role of the legendary vampire. And how awesome he was too. I never tire of seeing this.

 

3. Tom Cruise as Lestat de Lioncourt

At #3 is a modern-day great, , who gave us the iconic on-screen delight that was Lestat de Lioncourt in Interview With The Vampire. When he was originally cast in the role the writer of the book, the wonderful Anne Rice, was openly critical of the choice. She later changed her view on this and rightly so. He was brilliant as Lestat, and the bad boy of the movie that I’m sure his female fans adored. The thing is, many of us adored the part he played and the result is that Lestat will really be immortal for all time.

2. Brad Pitt as Louis de Pointe du Lac

At #2 is my favourite actor of the modern age, . Mr Pitt, as we all know, played the part of Louis de Pointe du Lac opposite Tom Cruise’s Lestat in Interview With The Vampire. It has been very hard not to have him as my #1 choice. On screen he was almost mesmeric in this part. In fact, I have rarely seen any actor with the on-screen presence that Pitt had in this movie. He was brilliant. The only reason he never made my choice at #1 is because he was essentially a good guy, a vampire with a conscience that battled against the less scrupulous Lestat. I have watched this movie maybe 20 times and I’ve no doubt I will watch it another 20.

 

1. Luke Goss as Jared Nomak

Now when I first sat down to watch Blade II I had no idea of the delights that awaited me. In it I saw a vampire so bad that the images are engrained in my memory forever. Do you all remember who it is I’m referring to? In the early 1990’s we had a glut of boy bands in the pop music world. One of the first ones to appear in the UK, if not the first, was a band called Bros, made up of twins Luke and Matt Goss. Now these guys had so many young female fans that it wasn’t at all cool for us guys to express any kind of an interest in them, especially those of us that listened to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden day in day out. So imagine my shock when I saw Luke Goss there before my eyes in the opening scene of the movie. I mean, he was WOW… so bad ass that I thought I was dreaming. Yes, Luke Goss was cast as Jared Nomak, a vampire that feasted on other vampires and he was so awesome in the part and as scary as you could ever hope your vampires to be. Luke Goss as Jared Nomak is undoubtedly my #1 choice.

 

And finally..

I can already hear people complaining there is no inclusion of any of the on-screen Draculas here. Some of these performances have been masterful, most notably from Gary Oldman, Frank Langella and Louis Jordan among others. But of course, the greatest of them all was Christopher Lee’s Dracula. His vampire is without reservation, in my opinion, the vampire of all vampires. It is the character that terrified me as a kid and got my hooked. I’m sure there are hundreds of thousands of others who would say the same. Because he is so iconic I didn’t want to include him on any lists, even at the #1 spot. I wanted to give Christopher Lee’s Dracula a special place at the end and dedicate this blog post to him, and say thank you for all the delightful and scary moments he has given me.

I give you as Dracula…..in The Prince Of Darkness.